"Are you sure I should be doing this?" Alexandria Stallion-Stark bit her lip. She awkwardly held a soldering gun between her fingers and silently prayed that she didn't burn herself. She had been working most of the afternoon with her father, Tony Stark, on the new suit they'd been building together when he decided it would be a good idea to let her solder some key components together.

"I mean what if I screw something up?" she sighed looking down at the wires. Which for the record were neither red nor blue. She'd never forgive television and movies for feeding her that lie her entire life. "I mean if there's faulty wiring I could literally fall to my death!"

"Princess, do you really think I'd let you wire something important like the repulsors on your first go?" Tony rolled his eyes. "Besides, can't make any omelets without breaking a few eggs."

The past few hours had been some of Tony's most gratifying moments as a father. He didn't even know he had a daughter until almost a year ago when she'd shown up with his girlfriend Pepper Potts. Lex was a student at New York University and as part of one of her classes she had set up a meeting with the Stark Industries CEO. After their interview, She identified Tony as her biological father. Everything seemed to happen in fast forward after that. There had been a confrontation with Lex's stepfather, Oliver Stallion, because he hadn't wanted his daughter to ever meet him. Oliver was so furious he completely cut her off. Since her mother had died when she was still just a kid, this left Alexandria with no place to go.

Feeling completely guilty for not knowing of her existence, and for inadvertently being the cause of the situation, Tony insisted she move into the Avenger's Tower where he could take care of her. Things seemed to go really well for awhile after that. Tony was introduced to his daughter's college roommate, Rachelle Miler, and her boyfriend at the time, Kyle Nelson. In return the young woman started integrating herself into her father's life as well. She quickly learned how to communicate with the residential A.I. JARVIS and found ways into the other Avenger's hearts as well.

She grew to idolize Pepper and the Black Widow, Natashia Romanov, who she affectionately called 'Aunt Nat'. It seemed, at least to her, that both women had found their own ways to succeed in a man's world. She found a familiar comfort with Dr. Bruce Banner as he was the most like the Scientist mother she missed so much. She bonded with Hawkeye over their shared love of cooking and overall loved her new life as Tony Stark's only daughter. Tony for his part in all of this realized that he also loved having her around. It was almost like having two of him! And who wouldn't love that?

Of course, much like the Frost poem where nothing gold can stay, life of the tower was only calm for a very brief time. Only three months after Lex had moved into the Tower an incident occurred, striking the new family to its core. Tony would never forget the moment when he first seriously felt like a father. New Years Eve Lex, Rachelle and Kyle were going to a party together. He'd hand an uneasy feeling the entire time the girls were in their room primping and getting ready, but he shook it off. Everyone gets nervous when they're sending their kid out alone. As he settled into the couch for the night he told himself the girls would be fine, that nothing was wrong. But he should have listened to the voices in the back of his mind.

Four thirty in the morning on New Year's day Tony and Pepper woke to a frantic call from Captain Rogers telling him to come down to the medical bay as soon as possible. It was an emergency he said and Alexandria had been hurt. Pull on pants and not bothering with anything else, Tony pulled a bathrobe clad Pepper towards the elevator and downstairs. He had never been so terrified in his entire life. She had trusted him to keep her safe and now...He didn't want to think of the possibilities. His genius mind went into hyper drive trying to think of where they had said they were going. Why hadn't she called him first? How had she gotten hurt so badly? Why hadn't she called him?

He flew off the handle the second he found Rogers in the medical bay. Luckily Pepper was able to keep a level head. She'd asked all the right questions. What exactly happened? Where was Rachelle? How could they help? Through a little detective work Tony, Pepper and Steve were able to piece together the whole story of exactly what had happened. Her now ex-boyfriend Kyle had, for lack of a better word, abused her. Tony felt his blood run cold when the truth was revealed.

The only reason Kyle Nelson was still alive to this day was because as the elder Stark was leaving the room to tear up the town in search of the soon to be very dead man, his daughter had called out to him in a weak and scared voice. Dad. He had never realized such a tiny little word could have a dramatic impact on his life. With the utterance of a single syllable he'd felt like his entire DNA had been rewritten. Being a father meant putting his kid first every single time. She needed him in that moment and she would need him for the rest of their lives. He used to think fathers were overrated. He had never needed one before, why should anyone else? But becoming a father had changed him. As cliché as it sounded he never knew what it meant to have a family until he had become the parent of an amazing, albeit nearly grown, teenager.

"Dad! Hello? Remember me? The daughter you are currently allowing to hold a metal melting device while you stare off into space and count metallic sheep?" Lex waved the soldering gun impatiently. She had probably been trying to get his attention for awhile, but he'd been too busy musing to notice.

"How do you know the sheep I count are metallic?" He folded his arms not missing a beat.

"Because I'm pretty sure you're brain just automatically puts Iron Man suits on everything. I'm waiting for the day the headlines read: Tony Stark puts a giant suit of armor around the whole world!"

"Well I couldn't put a physical suit around the entire world...too big. But this project that Banner and I have been working on, it comes close. Let me help you with that thing. It looks dangerous." He reached over the workbench and started guiding her hand towards the correct place. He'd never admit it to anyone but teaching his daughter about science and technology was his favorite thing in the entire world at the moment. She was smart, well better than smart. She was a Stark which made her a genius through DNA. She picked things up quickly and loved to learn. Only recently though had she shown any interest in Science. Until two weeks ago Lex had insisted that her and Science didn't get along. As it turned out, all she needed was a teacher who understood how she thought and processed things. Enter fellow genius-robot-building-Biodad.